Sakura of DOOM

Clearly I need an icon for this show now given my level of investment.

( Spoilers could have been a knife )

Yay, CB and I are catching up again!

( Spoilers )

Btw, who has been posting on Elementary episodes? I know I missed a ton over the past few weeks...

So instead of finishing off the multiple things I am in the middle of, I started a new series based on various things heard around my dwircle in the spring.

( Too much soap opera, not enough revenge )

ETA: Also, why is it that all fiances destined to DOOM due to their loved ones' secret other lives are named "Daniel"? Revenge included, I can think of four off the top of my head.

CB and I have been watching Buffy and Angel, with him watching for the first time and me being all, "I want to watch [episode title] with you!" I think he just started this year, and we're already in the beginning of Buffy S7 and just finished Angel S4 yesterday.

It's funny because the prior seasons of Buffy make me feel nostalgic for the characters, who aren't quite as broken as they get later, but the latter seasons make me feel nostalgic for me, since I started watching live and engaging with fandom around S6. It's funny just how many posts I remember from when I was lurking around AtPoBtVS, from the ones connecting everything to Restless to all the spoilery ones I devoured.

I remember various fannish wars and arguments too, but mostly I have a large fuzzy feeling toward fandom right now. It's especially interesting going through memories as someone who just delurked and started to tentatively send out feelers, versus now, when quite a few of my best friends are from the groups of people I met on DW/LJ and I talk about it regularly with CB and we have OTW and I go to cons and etc.

I don't remember very much from my senior year of college since it was mostly being depressed, fighting with people, and being even more depressed, but I remember Buffy and Angel posts and discussions and what vids came out when and I can still tell you how my ideas about antiheroes and angst and manpain has changed just from AtPo.

And it's odd watching and knowing about all the social justice fail in the shows. I think CB gets a bit defensive when I critique at times, but he is newly falling in love with them, whereas I am the Bitter Old Fan ranting about Firefly and Dr. Horrible and Dollhouse and yet still cheers on the idea of a Joss-run SHIELD show.

( Random notes, spoilers for all of Buffy and Angel )

Mostly, though, it's hard to believe this was ten years ago.

CB marathoned S3 of Avatar over the weekend, and I realized I had never written up the final bits!

( Spoilers )

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! I don't know how iTunes works internationally, but FYI, the first two episodes of Korra are available on HD for free there.

According to Wikipedia, The Legend of Korra is a two-season miniseries of about 20+ episodes that takes place roughly two generations after the events of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Korra, the new Avatar, goes to Republic City to complete her bending training and plot happens that relates to the growing anti-bending movement in the world.

First, the production values are amazing. It looks like anime-movie-quality animation! The backgrounds are gorgeous, the music is fun and funky, and oh people, the art! I think I could just sit and watch the background scenes and take pleasure in the world-building details. I have been very fannishly out of it, so my Korra excitement was fairly low key, but now it has hit the "OMG WHY IS THERE NOT MORE STUFF LIKE THIS" button that JoSelle Vanderhooft's lesbian steampunk anthologies have. Entire worlds! Populated by POC! With non-Western backdrops! It feels like there is a hole in my heart that is slowly being patched up, when I hadn't even realized it was an empty space.

Second, I love that this is clearly aimed at an older demographic than AtLA. Korra is a teenager who has already been training for a while, and just in these first two episodes, the moral issues are more complicated and nuanced. And although the scope of the plot is smaller, since this so far is not a Heroic Quest narrative, the entire world feels so much larger because we're getting much more time to explore the setting. Korra feels like there is a lot going on off screen in a way that AtLA didn't always, and I love the sense of depth and immersion.

Third, I am SO EXCITED to have a heroine on screen who looks like Korra. She's a fighter, and she looks it. I love how the artists emphasize her arms and her shoulder blades, I love that they are not pandering to the male gaze at all, I love the focus on how her body works, not how it looks. This is particularly nice as a contrast to the Black Widow/Hawkeye Avengers poster I keep seeing on buses, in which Hawkeye is aiming at something off-screen and Black Widow is standing there, looking down demurely.

( Spoilers are so excited! )

In conclusion: some minor quibbles and qualms, but overall, I am really excited about the potential this shows. The writing is excellent, the worldbuilding is so wonderfully expansive, and it looks like it is addressing so many things from AtLA that I wanted to see more of. I... do not think I have been this excited about a show from the start for a really long time (SCC took a few eps to warm up to).

OMG SO COOL!

(And since I am late watching this, any and all links to commentary and/or squee highly appreciated!)

Yay, actually caught up with a TV show...

( Spoilers )

In conclusion, I would probably be more coherent if I had more sleep...

I did a mass catch up on the show last week, and although I hadn't been interested enough to watch it when it aired, it slowly morphed from the "noise in the background I sometimes pay attention to" to "What is going on?! Rewind to catch the last bit again!"

( Spoilers )

Possible spoilers for specific casting in comments.